213 households will benefit from a PHP12.845 million solar-powered desalination water system to be constructed on an island barangay in Concepcion, Iloilo.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the project funded under the Philippine Rural Development Project with a counterpart fund from the Department of Agriculture and the provincial government was held in Sitio Danao-Danao of the island barangay of Polopiña on Thursday, led by Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr.
It has a population of about 1,000, but there is no potable water on the islet. “Our governor has laid the groundwork for a pioneering project, the first time the provincial government has embarked on a solar-powered water desalination system project,” said Provincial Administrator Raul Banias in an interview on Friday.
Seawater will be used as the source for the desalination machine, which will be powered by solar energy.
“It produces about 11,000 liters of water per day, enough to supply all the water needs of our beneficiaries on the islet,” he said.
Although the project has a nine-month deadline, the provincial government has requested it be completed in six months.
Since Singapore, Israel, and other Middle Eastern countries are already doing it, Banias is confident it will succeed.
Defensor is planning to replicate the project in the islands of the municipalities of Carles and Ajuy, as well as in other waterless coastal villages.
Banias said that seawater is limitless and can be processed into drinking water.
Defensor said solar energy is already part of the province’s transition to renewable energy in a press conference on Friday.
“That is a big step even though it is only one barangay. It reflects the province’s focus on renewable energy and desalination technology,” he said.
The province has a desalination project on Baliguian Island, also in Concepcion, but it is powered by a generator.
A total of PHP1.145 million was allocated to the project under the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project.
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